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NUTGRASS INFORMATION

Species:- Cyperus rotundus L.


Family : - CYPERACEAE


Nutgrass is a very common problem weed that exists in Australia and cost many millions of dollars to contain its spread and effect in home lawns, gardens, horticulture and agriculture.


In lawns or turf the little nuts or seeds can stay dormant for up to 50 years and only germinate when it feels it has the best chance for survival.


The plant has an amazing ability to spread and has a massive rhizomatous root system. The roots develop fibre covered tubers (or NUTS) that then germinate and grow into the sedge grass or the waxy shiny leaf we see on the surface.


To get the best results the weeds must be completely germinated in order to spray, if not then more germinations will quickly follow the first generation.


If you have a bad infestation then you can expect many more germinations even after a relatively good kill with sprays on the first and second population / germinations.


The product we use is an expensive herbicide that is totally dedicated to controlling sedges and the nutgrass family of weeds (including Mullumbimby couch, which is also a bad weed problem in home lawns and turf).


When we spray these weeds, it can take up to 3 to 4 weeks for this chemical to get into the plant and kill what is on the surface only.


Unfortunately there is NO RESIDUAL activity with this product and it will only kill what we can see on the day of the service treatment.


Hence if these die then there is a fair chance that other populations will germinated after our scheduled visit and more will come up in the preceding next 8 weeks.


Due to the sporadic nature of these weeds sometimes you never see them as they lay dormant then when we get conditions right you get massive infestations of these weeds on the surface.


Unfortunately we cannot kill the entire population below the ground, only when it emerges, therefore we cannot see them, so we can’t be there every time they come up.


Thus when we come on the given service day we will always spray these and if you see more come up between visits you must be aware that we cannot kill them all in one spray and on the given cycle day we will respray them again as per the program dates.


YOU CAN NOT ERADICATE NUTGRASS DUE TO THE LONG DORMANCY OF THE NUT AND THE NATURE OF GERMINATION


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